HOW many missed kicks were there last week? This week in the Fantasy Freakout, John Reinhold breaks down kicker woes, Gruden flops, the terror of the year’s first bye week, and how all of it will affect your fantasy football league.
Week 5 has a lot to discuss and take in overall. Tonight’s game features the Goat Tom Brady’s Buccaneers taking on an Eagles team that pulled out a great win against a good Panthers team. The Bucs smashed Miami last week and continue their success on both ends of the ball.
Week 5 was doink central, with a historically bad week for kickers. There were 13 missed PATs and 25 total missed kicks in week 5. This sets a NFL record for kickers in the Superbowl era since 1987. So doink one, across the board there. Then we have the resignation of Jon Gruden from the Raiders. Doink two. Lots to unpack with what happened. I suspect there will be a lot more fallout coming. We don’t know exactly what is in the 600k emails with correspondence between Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder — and with many others. But we do know that those transcripts resulted in a $10 million fine for Dan Synder. These emails probably have a bunch more life ahead of them in the coming weeks, too. Buckle up for the ride.
Back to it. Poor Lions; I actually feel bad for them. Vikings were running all over them with the backhoe, I really figured the score to be much higher for them. Lions coach Dan Campbell has them playing hard, but they just can’t win. Oh and Dan, Coach was crying y’all. Coach was crying. I have that on repeat for my entertainment. But seriously, I feel for Dan, because they are playing hard.
In LA, Justin Herbert is playing top caliber football. He took it on his back and beat the Browns, and the Browns are a great team, with amazing top run game and serious defense. Herbert looks to be one of the best young QBs right now. The Chargers are for real.
In other news, the Jags have lost 20 straight games. Urban Meyer can’t buy a clue. It’s a disaster, but he still has a job! Titans rolled them easily, with the usual gameplan of King Henry running over everything. Jameis Winston is getting it together for the Saints. Coach Peyton got some things straight and had a good plan against Washington. Washington still needs to figure out their defensive plan. They look OK on offense, which is odd considering we were all talking about the defense this year.
Packers and Bengals game was so crazy. Davante Adams just can’t be stopped. I watched the full game and was just praying for a kicker to hit the winner. Finally Crosby got a chance and won it — after four misses. Very unusual for such a consistent veteran, but hey, he hit the winner. This game had six missed field goals: doinks all day.
The Bills turned out a very good win against the Chiefs. It’s been a tough year for Mahomes. But the Bills defense is probably the best in the league now. Josh Allen looked like the top QB in that game. He is on his way, and Bills are a major threat every week. Falcons beat the Jets, and we finally had a coming out party for their young tight end, Pitts. Oh Jets, that defense was left off the plane it seems. Wilson is having a tough time, but he doesn’t have much help.
The Cardinals stayed unbeaten; surprisingly it was the defense that pulled out this one. San Fransisco’s young starter, Lance, didn’t have the best game — but he did do some good things. I believe he will improve weekly. New England is barely in it with their young QB Mac Jones; they came from behind to beat a bad Texans team. It just feels like they shouldn’t have been in that position.
Cowboys, to no one’s surprise, beat the Giants, but the injuries are the story here. Some nasty looking injuries in that game for Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones. I was watching it live and both looked bad. Jones didn’t know which Care Bears movie he was in after that hit. I kept saying, “Oh no, get him to the sideline. He’s freaking foaming at the mouth.”
Steelers offense came alive on the Broncos. Bug Ben hit a 50 yard pass!! He must have iced the arm after this one. It’s gonna be a long year for Steelers Nation. But maybe they can keep the momentum from this nice win. Broncos need a shot of something, they lost two straight and came out flat. They did turn it on, but it was too late in that game.
Da BEARs!!! Sweet — we got a win against what had been a pretty good team this year. Maybe there’s an asterisk on this game with everything going for the Raiders and Gruden. But F it: a win is a win. And Fields had his moments; he let the game come to him and didn’t press. The running game worked with the backups — and the rookie running back, Khalil Herbert, looked real good. But it’s all defense, really; that was the key. Bears lost another running back now in Williams, who had a good game.
Ravens and Colts was a great Monday night game. All these Monday nights have been pretty good this year. Ravens came from behind on a huge night from Lamar. He had over 400 yards passing. So let’s just stop this old “he can’t pass” routine, because its not true. He found ways to win, and made some tremendous tight pocket throws. Colts actually look pretty good, and Wentz is surprising me this year. They lost, but they seem to be improving each outing.
Week 6 features first set of bye weeks to keep in mind: Falcons, Jets, Saints, and 49ers all are out this week. Let’s look at the player situation around the league.
Waiver Wire Ads:
Taylor Heinicke (QB, Washington), Geno Smith (QB, Seahawks), Carson Wentz (QB, Colts), Justin Fields (QB, Bears), Darrel Williams (RB, Chiefs), Devontae Booker (RB, Giants), Khalil Herbert (RB, Bears), Rhamondre Stevenson (RB, Patriots), Kadarius Toney (WR, Giants), DJ Moore (WR, Panthers), Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR, Lions), Rashod Bateman (WR, Vikings), Hunter Henry (TE, Patriots), Dan Arnold (TE, Jags), Ricky Seals-Jones (TE, Washington), David Njoku (TE, Browns), Cowboys Def, Colts Def
Notable Starts / Sits / Streamers:
Play your best players. If you have to decide between a few people, here are some decent matchups on paper. Check injury status as always.
Quarterbacks
Start: Heinicke vs Chiefs, Lawrence vs Miami, Stafford vs NYG, Big Ben vs Seattle
Sit: Tannehill vs Buffalo, Carr vs Denver, Cousins vs Panthers (could be tough)
Running Backs
Start: Gaskins vs Jags, Robinson vs Miami, Williams vs Washington
Sit: Sanders vs Tampa Bay, Murray vs LAC, Harris vs Cowboys, Booker vs Rams
Wide Receivers
Start: Claypool vs Seattle, Pittman vs Texas, Cooks vs Colts
Sit: Robinson vs Green Bay, Beckham vs Arizona, AJ Brown vs Bills, Toney vs Rams
Tight Ends
Start: Gesicki vs Jax, Henry vs Cowboys, Ertz vs TB, Ricky Seals-Jones vs Chiefs
Sit: Tonyan vs DA Bears, Conklin vs Panthers, Njoku vs Arizona, Hockenson vs Cin
Defense
Start: Colts vs Houston, Bengals vs Lions
Sit: Ravens vs Chargers, Chicago vs Green Bay
Looking for more in-depth coverage? I recommend https://www.fantasysharks.com.
OK, good luck again everyone. Week 6 starts with the golden boy in a prime Thursday matchup.
